Refrigerating apparatus



Oct. 20, 1931. T. L CHISHIOLM 1,827,809

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 31, 1927 4 6: 22. z/ Jgmfm l atentedGet, 2, lgdll were srras matte rrar THEODORE CHISHOLM, 0F DAYTON, OHIO,ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENT$, TO ERIGIDAIRE CORPOBATION,'ACORPORATIGN' 0F DELAWE EEFRIGEBATING APPARATUS Application filed January31,

This invention relates to cooling units for mechanical refrigerators,and more particularly to cooling units which are adapted to be installedin refrigerating cabinets ofthe household type. However, it is to beunderstood that the present invention may be adapted for refrigeratingappartus of other types.

It is among the objects of the present in-' vention to provide a coolingunit of simple and economical structure, which will quickly congeal orfreeze substances placed within a freezing compartment provided by theunit, and which will ellectively cool the food compartment-of thecabinet.

Another object is to improve the efliciency of the cooling unit byreducing its tendency to become coated with frost.

Further objects and advantages of the present in 'ention will beapparent from the following description, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, wherein a preferred form of embodiment of thepresent invention is clearly shown.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front view of a refrigerator cabinet with the door open inorder to show the food compartment and a cooling unit within a coolingcompartment;

Fig. 2 is a view on a larger scale than Fig. 1, showing the front Viewof the cooling unit supported within the cooling compartment of acabinet, the walls of which are show in vertical section;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the cooling unit drawn to the same scaleas Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4* is a fragmentary detail sectional view taken along the lines llof Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawing, designates a refrigerating I cabinet having anL-shaped food compartment 21 separated from a cooling compartment 22 byhorizontal partition 23 and a vertical partition 24. The partition 24 isprovided with a flue 25 which admits relatively warm air from the foodcompartment 21 to the cooling compartment 22. Partition 23 providedwith-a flue 26 admits cooled air from the compartment 22to compartment21. The partition 23 supports a bafile 27 which prevents any moisturewhich 1927. Serial No. 164,746.

should happen to drip from the cooling unit above from entering the flue26. The baifie 27 directs such moisture upon the upper sur face of thepartition 23, from which it is conducted away by a drain pipe 28.

The cooling unit located within the cooling compartment 22, includes aboiler or header 30 attached to the top wall of cabinet by bracketmembers 31 and 32. Liquid refrigerant is conducted to the header 30 froma compressor and condenser, not shown, through a pipe 33 and a fitting34- Refrigerant is admitted from the fitting 34, as

needed, by a float controlled valve, not shown, located within theheader 30. Ex-

panded refrigerant is conducted to the compressor through a fitting 35and a pipe 36. The refrigerating compressor and condenser with which thepipes 33 and 36 communicate may be located outside of the cabinet, ifdesired, or may be placed within a machine compartment located below thefood compartment 21, said compartment having a removable wall 37provided with louvers 38.

The cooling unit includesa plurality of ducts 40 and 41, of elongatedcross section and preferably arranged in. longitudinal rows along theheader. The elongated section of the ducts provides a relatively largesurface area and a relatively small volume, which reduces the quantityof refrigerant required to produce a given amount of cooling. The ducts40 of the two inside rows provide a freezing zone or space 42 which maycontain one or more metal sleeves 43 for the reception of freezing trays4.4. The loops 40 are arranged with their fiat sides in alignment so asto bring the ducts closetogether and occupy as much of the side of thefreezing space as possible. Preferably the flat sides are soldered tothe sleeves, and thus provide a large heat exchange area in contact withthe sleeves.

I In order to facilitate proper sliding of the trays inside the sleevesthe bottom wall of each sleeve may be provided with a plurality ofextending portions43a providing slides for said trays.

Ducts 41 depending from the header extend outwardly into the coolingchamber,

remote from the freezing space and ducts 40. The ducts also have anelongated cross-section, but the flat sides are perpendicular to thedirection of the rows, in order to increase the distancebetween adjacentducts. Likewise the ducts '41 are spaced between ducts 40 along thelength of the header to increase the distance between ducts 40 and 41.

Manufacture and assembly of the cooling unit are considerably cheapenedand facilitated by making the ducts in pairs, in the form of equallyspaced U-shaped loops one arrangement of which is shown in Fig. 3.

Equally spaced round holes are formed in the header and the upper end ofeach duct has a rounded portion 45- which fits into a hole. Thus whilethe ducts are equally spaced along the header at their points ofattachment thereto, the inner ducts 40 are relatively close togetherthroughout their length, and the outer ducts 41 are relatively erantvapor through the pipe 36 only after the 1 ducts 40 and 41 reach atemperature slightly above freezing point, for instance 32- F. Thecompressor will then continue to operate until the refrigerant in thecooling unit reaches a desired minimum temperature, for instance 12 Fwhen automatic controls will stop the compressor. Such auto maticcontrols for starting and stopping the compressor at the desired maximumand minimum temperature are well known in the art and hence will not beherein described. Now during the greater portion of one completecycle-of such a system the refrigerant in the cooling unit will begreatly below freezing point and hence frost will form and build up onthe outside of the entire unit. However, during that part of the cyclewhen the re frigerant is at a temperature at or slightly above freezingpoint this frost will be melted by the circulating air whichordinarilyis considerably above the freezing point. Since thecirculating air comes into intimate contact with the exposed portions41, these portions can be defrosted at each cycle. However, the ducts40, being much less exposed to the circulating air and having a largeduct surface within a relatively small compact space will not bedefrosted at each cycle. Therefore, frost can gradually build up allaround these ducts and form a shield around the freezing space againstthe circulating air. Hence the refrigerant in the ducts may have amaximum temperature slightly above 32 F.

for a short period of time without tending to.

of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. A cooling unit for a refrigerator comprising a refrigerant supplymember and refrigerant ducts connected to said member and co-operatingto provide a freezing zone, an ice tray support adapted to support anice tray within said zone, said ducts being of elongated cross-sectionalshape, the broader sides being adjacent said freezing zone and thermallyconnected with said support.

2. A cooling unit for a refrigerator having cooling and freezing spacescomprising a refrigerant supply member and refrigerant ducts leadingtherefrom, certain of said ducts co-operating to enclose the freezingspace, said ducts being of elongated cross-sectional shape, the broadersides lying adjacent the freezing zone, the other ducts extending intothe cooling space of the refrigerator.

3. A cooling unit for a refrigerator having freezing and cooling spacescomprising a refrigerant supply member and conduits in the form of loopsextending therefrom, portions of said loops being elongated in crosssection and having their broader sides adjacent the freezing space.

4. A cooling unit for a refrigerator having freezing and cooling zonescomprising a refrigerant supply member and conduits in the form of loopsextending therefrom, said conduits being elongated in cross-section andhaving the broader sides of some of said conduits providing the freezingzones, the broader sides of the other conduits being arranged angularlyto the broader sides of the first mentioned conduits and lying outwardlyof the freezing zone to provide a cooling zone.

5. A coolin unit for mechanical refrigerators comprising, a refrigerantsupply member and a plurality of rows of conduits elongated in crossvsection communicating with. said member, some of said conduits beingarranged so that the broader sides of the conduits co-operate to providea freezing zone, other of said conduits being located so as to, besubstantially entirely exposed to air adjacent the cooling unit.

accuses 6. A cooling unit for mechanical refrigerators comprising, arefrigerant supply memher and a plurality of ll-shaped conduitscommunicating with said member, said conduits including branches andconnecting yoke portions, both portions being of an elongatedcross-sectional shape, some of said conduits being arranged in parallelrows so that the broader sides of the branches lie in a plane parallelwith the axis of refrigerant supply member and cooperate therewith toprovide a freezing zone and other of said ill-shaped conduits havingtheir branches spaced from the freezing zone so as to be entirelyexposed to air adjacent the coolingunit.

7. A cooling unit for mechanical 'refrigera tors, comprising arefrigerant supply mem-- her and plurality of lit-shaped conduitsincluding branch portions and a connecting yoke portion, both portionsbeing of an elongated cross-sectional. shape, certain of the con-. duitshaving their broader sides in alignment so as to co-op-erate to providea freezing zone.

and the other conduits having their broader sides arranged angularly tothe first mentioned conduits and being spaced remote from said freezingzone.

8. A cooling unit for mechanical refrigerators comprising, a refrigerantsupply member and a plurality'oit conduits of an eloncross-sectionalshape certain of said conduits having their broader sides aligned so asto provide a freezing zone, the broader sides of the other conduitsbeing arranged at right angles to the broader sides of the firstmentioned conduits and spaced remote from the freezing zone, the remoteconduits lying in planes passing midway between the first mentionedconduits. v

9. A cooling unit for mechanical refrigerators including freezing andcooling zones and comprising, an elongated header and a plurality oiconduits of elongated cross section.

depending "from said header, the broader sides of certain conduits beingaligned parallel with the axis of the header and co-operating with saidheader to rovide the freezing zone.

10. A cooling unit for mechanical refrigerators including freezing andcooling zones comprising an elongated header and a plurality of conduitsof elongated cross-section depending from said header, the broader sidesof certain conduits being aligned parallel with the axis of the headerand cooperating with said header to provide the freezing zone, the otherof said conduits being arranged so as tohave their broader sides atright angles to the first mentioned conduits and being spaced remotefrom the freezing zone.

11.. A cooling unit adapted to be placed in the path of the medium to becooled thereby, said cooling unit including heat exchange means inintimate contact with a refrigerant and with said medium to be cooled,said heat exchange means including a portion providing a freezing zone,a support in intimate thermal contact with said portion and adapted tosupport an ice tray within said freezing zone, and a plurality of ductportions of elongated cross sections disposed angularly of the freezingzone and providing a cooling zone for said medium, said last portionslying outwardly Or the freezing zone With the broader sides of saidportions in intimate thermal association with the medium rou beingarranged transverse to the broader sides of the first row.

13. A cooling unit for cooling circulating air in a refrigerator cabinetcomprisingheat exchange means in intimate contact with a refrigerant andwith the medium to be cooled, said heat exchange means including aplurality otelongated portions arranged in a plurality of rows, thebroader sides of the v elongated portions of one row being arranged inalignment, and the broader sides of the elongated portions of anotherrow being arranged transverse to the broader sides of the.

first row.

14. A cooling unit for ratus comprising heat exchange means in intimatecontact with a refrigerant and With the medium to be cooled, said heatexchange means including a plurality of elongated portions arranged in aplurality oi? rows, the broader sides of the elongated portions of onerow being arranged in alignment, and the broader sides of the elongatedportions of another roW being arranged transverse to the broader sidesof the first row and disposed in planesbetween the portions of the firstrow.

15; A cooling unit "for refrigerating apparatus comprising a header anda plurality of ducts extending therefrom, portions of the heatabsorbing'suriaces of some of the ducts being relatively, closely spacedfrom one another and provide a freezing zone adapted to receive an icetray, and heat absorbing surface of other of the ducts providing acooling zone, said last ducts lying outwardly of the "freezing zone andbeing relatively widely spaced "from one another.

16. A cooling unit for refrigerating apparatus comprising a header and aplurality of rows of ducts extending therefrom, portions of the heatabsorbing surfaces of the ducts in one or more of the rows beingrelatively closely spaced from one another and refrigerating appaill)provide a freezing zone adapted to receive an ice tray and portions ofthe heat absorbing surface of the ducts in one or more other rowsproviding a cooling zone, said last ducts lying outwardly of thefreezing zone and being relatively widely spaced from one another.

17. A cooling unit for cooling circulating air in a refrigerator cabinetcomprising a plurality of flat ducts, the broader sides of certain ofsaid ducts being arranged lengthwise of one another and cooperate toprovide a freezing zone, and certain of said ducts being arranged inmore intimate thermal relation with the air flowing thereover, thebroader sides of said latter ducts being arranged transversely of thebroader sides of the first ducts. I

18. A cooling unit for cooling circulating air flowing thereovercomprising a plurality of ducts, portions of said ducts being flat andthe broader sides thereof being arranged lengthwise of one another andcooperate to provide a freezing zone, and portions of said ducts beingarranged in more intimate thermal relation with the air flowingthereover, said latter portions being flat and having the broader sidesthereof 'arran ed transversely of the broader sides of the firstportions.

In testimony whereof I hereto aflix my signature.

THEQDORE L. CHISHOLM

